AI Quotes Activity
Running the activity in the classroom
The AI quotes activity was created as an introductory activity to encourage people to consider critical interpretations of AI that go beyond simply seeing AI as tools that always result in social progress. Educators can use all the quotes in full, choose some, or use simplified quotes. The Google slides linked below are intended to be printed out and posted on classroom walls for a “gallery walk,” but teachers can adapt the activity for their contexts.
We have continued adding quotes to this page as our community shares new ones with us. Only the quotes we have used in the classroom appear in the slides, but of course, it is easy to modify the slides to include different quotes. Please continue to check back for updates.
Creators: Dan Krutka and Marie Heath
What are different ways to think about AI?
AI quotes activity instructions: Read the quotes and consider the following questions:
What do you believe each quote means?
How does the time and place from which it originates effect its meaning for today?
Which quote most resonates with you—for better or worse?
Jot down your responses and prepare to discuss them with a partner or small groups.
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— Chris Gilliard (@hypervisible) & Guy McHendry (@acaguy) (academics & technology critics), sticker, 2021
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— Brian Merchant (Technology Journalist), Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech, p. 315, 2023
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— Ashley Shew (Professor of Science, Technology, & Society), Against technoableism: Rethinking who needs improvement, 2023, p. 8.
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— Meredith Broussard (data journalism professor), More than a glitch, 2023, p. 2
We need people in our lives, not the simulation of people.
— L.M. Sacassas ( professor), “Embracing Sub-Optimal Relationships” from The Convivial Society [blog], 2024, para. 13
Letting a robot structure your argument, or flatten your style by removing the quirky elements, is dangerous. It’s a streamlined way to flatten the human mind, to homogenize human thought. We know who we are, at least in part, by finding the words — messy, imprecise, unexpected — to tell others, and ourselves, how we see the world. The world which no one else sees in exactly that way.
— Margaret Renki (Writer), “I, Human,” New York Times, 2025